Grenfell Tower fire amounts to 'corporate manslaughter': MP

A security cordon holds people back as Grenfell Tower is engulfed by fire on June 14, 2017 in west London. (Photo by AFP)

A British lawmaker has said that Wednesday’s Grenfell Tower fire in west London amounts to “corporate manslaughter.”

The massive fire has left at least 12 people dead and dozens more injured. The fire broke out in the 24-story Lancaster West Estate tower in the early hours of Wednesday when most of the residents would have still been in bed.

London Fire Commissioner Dany Cotton said there were still "unknown numbers" of people in the smoldering ruins of the building. So there could be many more casualties.

Labour MP David Lammy said on Thursday that a close friend of his family, Khadija Saye, a 24-year-old artist, and her mother Mary were missing after the blaze.

Lammy said she was “a beautiful young woman with an amazing career ahead of her.”

“Obviously as the seconds pass we grow more sad and bleak at every second,” he added.

Lammy said he was hoping she was injured and in hospital “and not perished in the building as I suspect hundreds will have done by the end of this count.”

“This is the richest borough in our country treating its citizens in this way and we should call it what it is. It is corporate manslaughter. That’s what it is. And there should be arrests made, frankly. It is an outrage,” he stated.

Labour MP David Lammy

Thirty-four people are still in hospital, and 18 of whom are said to be in a critical condition. According to reports, a large number of people are still uncounted for in the smoldering rubble.

Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May has promised a thorough investigation into the deadly incident.